2003 Mercedes-Benz 500SL, 71,000 miles. Asking price $9,500. I'm ready to get hurt again.
This isn't the only M-B from the early 2000's that I'm smitten with. I'm a big fan of the CL500 from that era too. His and hers? Although I think we'd be fighting over who got which. Both are really, really affordable and most I've seen listed have far less than 100,000 miles on them. What's up with that?
Well, they might be overpriced considering how stupid expensive they are to fix. I mean, it's just insane and shade trade garage hacks like me, please don't call me "handy", might not have much luck since many of the repairs require not only special training but special tools too.
One of the most problematic issues with these cars is their electro-hydraulic, "active body control" systems or "ABC". It adjusts very quickly if not instantly to road conditions and driver input through a series of computerized sensors throughout the car that interact with a hydraulic pump that feeds the just right amount of (veddy expensive) fluid to the struts to keep the car neutral in handling maneuvers. It's the stuff of dreams and makes people better, safer drivers than they really are. And it's all wrapped up in a package that's, god damn, the best-looking thing since the Lamborgini Miura.
When that system fails, however, it ain't pretty. The cars sit and ride at weird angles and heights and repairs bills can be ghastly. Like to the tune of $2,500 on the low end and to around $20,000 if you're really. really unlucky. And that's not the only pricy thing that can go wrong either. I don't know any owner of an older M-B that brags about their reliability either.
Whenever my wife sees an SL or CL of this vintage, she googles them to see how much one would run us, and she gets all excited about how cheap they are. Then she gets equally annoyed when I tell her that they're dreadfully unreliable and super expensive to fix.
For ten-grand these days, if I dig long and hard enough and I'm willing to make a trip, I can get a 2005 Toyota Camry XLE with similar if not less mileage on it. While certainly not sexy and nothing if not ambiguous if not invisible, that would be one with the 3.0-liter V-6 too, at least I know it has "brag about it" reliability. At the end of the day, that's what makes one car "better" than another.
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